1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat panel display and a method of driving the flat panel display, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a flat panel display sequentially supplying data signals to a pixel portion using a demultiplexer and a method of driving the flat panel display, supplying scan signals in a horizontal period to prevent deformation and distortion of the data signal supplied to each pixel and compensating for a threshold voltage of a drive transistor of the pixel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since flat panel displays are lightweight and thin, they are used as alternatives to Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) displays. Examples of flat panel displays include Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), and Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays.
The OLED displays generate excitons by recombination of electrons and holes, which are injected through a cathode and an anode, into an organic thin film, and emit light having a predetermined wavelength due to energy from the excitons. The OLED displays have high brightness and a wide viewing angle, and can be embodied in an ultra slim shape because they do not need a back-light.
In the flat panel display, a plurality of pixels commonly connected to one scan line are connected to different data lines. Therefore, when the number of pixels arranged in directions of scan lines and data lines is increased for a higher resolution, the number of data lines is also increased in proportion to the number of pixels. As a result, the number of data drive circuits included in a data driver to supply data to the respective pixels through the plurality of data lines is increased, and thus the production cost is increased.
To solve these problems, data signals generated by the data driver are sequentially supplied to the plurality of data lines using a Demultiplexer (Demux) which can selectively output an input signal to one of a plurality of output lines, thereby reducing the number of data drive circuits included in the data driver.
However, the flat panel display using the demultiplexer is driven in one horizontal period divided into two durations, i.e., a record duration of data signals and an application duration of scan signals to allow the data signal to be supplied to each pixel, such that deformation of the data signals sequentially input due to the data signals which supplied to pixels during a previous horizontal period can be prevented.
Accordingly, in the flat panel display using the demultiplexer, the application duration of the scan signals during the horizontal period is relatively shorter as the resolution is increased. Thus, when each of the plurality of pixels includes a compensation circuit for preventing the distortion or deformation of the data signal supplied to each pixel and compensating for a threshold voltage of the drive transistor, the circuit cannot sufficiently ensure the application duration of the scan signals which are necessary to compensate for the threshold voltage of the drive transistor.